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Donation at the heart of the Borehamwood community

Donation at the heart of the Borehamwood community

We have provided a generous donation to Elstree and Borehamwood Town Council to help fund the purchase of a brand new defibrillator that has been installed at the BECC Children’s Centre.

Our North Thames team gave £1,000 to the Town Council to pay for one of 12 brand new defibrillators being provided across Borehamwood as part of the ‘Defibrillators Save Lives’ campaign.

Following a fire service demonstration in 2015, Lawrence Stack, a member of Elstree and Borehamwood Residents Association, approached the Town Council to help him bring more defibrillators to Borehamwood. Since then a team of four town councillors has been working with Lawrence to make it a reality.

Town Councillor Pat Strack, the defibrillator group coordinator, says: “Town Cllr Eric Silver approached Taylor Wimpey for their support, as they have been building new homes in Borehamwood, and they kindly agreed to donate towards our town initiative, which could help save someone’s life in the event of a heart attack.

“The team set about finding where defibrillators were already located in Borehamwood to identify the gaps. The 12 extra defibrillators being installed brings the total number to 36 across the town. These are located in various places of importance or areas with high footfall, such as local supermarkets.

“The type of defibrillator installed at the BECC Children’s Centre is a ZOLL model, which is better as we are able to buy replacement batteries for it over the counter. Also, the device that Taylor Wimpey’s donation has paid for is specially designed so that it can be used for children as well.”

Peter Gurr, Managing Director of Taylor Wimpey North Thames, says: “We’re delighted to offer this donation to Elstree and Borehamwood Town Council, who are supporting a brilliant initiative that will help to save lives and really make a difference to the residents of Borehamwood.”

Christine Scarborough, Sales and Marketing Director for Taylor Wimpey North Thames, adds: “We feel it’s extremely important to invest in the communities in which we build our homes, and helping the council to install these defibrillators will be a tremendous benefit to local people.”

A number of the other defibrillators being installed in Borehamwood have been donated by other organisations, including the British Heart Foundation and pharmaceutical companies.

Town Councillor Sandra Parnell says: “When we took on this initiative we decided to raise money for defibrillators to set up in places where they are most needed – with all of them expected to be in place by the end of February 2016.”

Pat continues: “Even though the defibrillators talk through the instructions, many local residents are still concerned about using them, so we have set up training sessions for members of staff at key locations and residents so they can feel more comfortable using them.

“The council is trying to raise awareness of the defibrillators and we’ve received really good feedback from the community.

“Town Councillor Clive Butchins has produced a map in the Town Crier magazine that will be delivered to every home, to provide the location of the defibrillators. This map will also be displayed on all town notice boards and in community centres and GP surgeries.

“We’ve been amazed at the support we’ve had and we’d like to thank Taylor Wimpey very much for their generosity and for the fact they were willing to donate money for the benefit of other people.”

The new defibrillator at the BECC Children’s Centre was unveiled during a special event on Monday 1st February, which was attended by many representatives including Peter Gurr.